Friday, November 18, 2011

PIRATES, PRIVATE EYES, PULP VILLAINS, AND PULP PUBLISHERS! THIS AND MORE FROM RADIO ARCHIVES!

History And The High Seas Collide! If you're looking for a good pulpy audio serial, the recipe is simple. Equal parts High Seas intrigue, colorful, exciting characters, and pulse pounding tales of pirates and buccaneers. Mix these together with the skills of a man who many consider a penultimate voice actor and a production genius behind the scenes. The result is a 52 episode Australian series in 1947 that can now be heard again in fifteen minute punches of action and adventure in Afloat with Henry Morgan, Volume 2!

Afloat with Henry Morgan followed the adventures of the title character, a real life privateer for the Queen of England employed and licensed to fight the Spanish Armada. His mission, starting around 1655, quite simply was to fight Spanish fleets, scuttle and sink their crafts, and take whatever booty there might be on the ships he managed to attack as payment for his dedication to the English crown. For obvious reasons, Morgan is often portrayed as more pirate than English seaman.

The magical part, though, according to many, of this classic program was the man behind it. Well-known Australian radio personality George Edwards produced Afloat with Henry Morgan. The man behind other Australian series, such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Corsican Brothers, and Son of Porthos, Edwards lent not only his production skills to Afloat, but shared his amazing vocal talents as well. Known as "The Man with a Thousand Voices," Edwards parlayed his ability to sound like a young child, any male he wanted to, nearly any nationality necessary, and even older women into a legendary career as a radio actor. The skill to do sometimes twelve different voices in a single episode definitely fit the needs of Afloat with Henry Morgan.

This program stands out due primarily to the intense pacing of the stories themselves as well as the historical component, the high quality production values, and the talented voice acting of Edwards and the rest of the cast.

The final 24 episodes of this cliffhanger non-stop serial are presented in Afloat with Henry Morgan, Volume 2! Restored to the finest sparkling quality possible, this collection brings you 6 hours of history, mystery, hard men, courageous women, and sea battles galore! Thrill as Morgan becomes involved in the theft of an Aztec artifact, plots are hatched and betrayed, raids are planned and double crossed, and a plethora of characters, many voiced by George Edwards, all come together to take you Afloat with Henry Morgan in this second volume of this classic show brought to you by Radio Archives! Available now on Audio CDs for $17.98 and digital download for $11.98!

Ask fans of Private Eye mysteries for a list of 'classic operators' and you'll get a handful of names. There will be some, depending on the fan, that society at large may not recognize, but the standards will be there. Spade. Archer. Hammer. Wolfe. Shayne. Who? The last one? Shayne. Michael Shayne. Not familiar? Then do I have a way to introduce you to one of the best examples of the popular Private Investigator mystery genre, who is also sadly largely forgotten.

Introduced in a novel in 1939, Michael Shayne was the creation of author Davis Dresser. Ask a fan, however, who wrote Michael Shayne and you'll be told that his creator was Brett Halliday, from his first adventure to his last in the mid 1980s. Halliday began life as Dresser's pen name when he wrote Shayne tales and became a house name when Dresser moved on, opening up the chance for a multitude of writers to put Shayne through his paces.

The Michael Shayne you'll encounter in The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, Volume 1 is by far my favorite interpretation of him and very close to the way later authors wrote the highly likable rough-hewn character. Largely the brainchild of Director William Rousseau, this audio version of Mike's escapades, the second time Shayne came to radio, found our hero hawking his skills in New Orleans. Described in each episode as "that reckless, red-headed Irishman," Shayne was portrayed by Jeff Chandler. An excellent actor who would become known for his stoic heroic presence in films, Chandler lends a wild abandon, a dangerous youthful sardonic edge to the character. Chandler's strong sucker punch of a baritone keeps the listener engaged as Shayne weaves through the dark streets of the Big Easy.

There's a roughness to not only Chandler's portrayal, but to the entire show itself. I'm not necessarily referring to production quality, it's top notch, but more to the attitude, the spirit of the program. Each show opens with Shayne narrating some suspenseful moment where he's either about to be shot, stabbed, or somehow violently dispatched from this world and then, right after terse credits, rolls into the beginning of the case. There's little time taken to set the scene, the assumption being the listener has some concept of New Orleans as well as some idea of the type of character Shayne is from the opening. The rhythm of each episode is hard and hammering, like the rat-a-tat of a Tommy gun. If you're looking for sophistication and character and tension building in your program, this isn't the show for you. This is delivered just like a sap to the back of the head. Quick, sudden, and a knock out every time.

The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, Volume 1 is not only the perfect introduction to a classic PI character, but it's also a great gateway into the pulp mystery/crime side of OTR. Few better examples exist of fast paced, plot driven programs that are both clever and in your face simultaneously. Chandler as Shayne will not only be the voice you hear in your head if you ever pick up a tale of Halliday's. It may very well be the voice you hear any time you read a hardboiled gumshoe from now on. See what I mean by getting The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, Volume 1 from Radio Archives today, $20.98 for 7 Audio CDs containing 14 episodes or $13.98 for digital download!

The history of the thriller is populated by striking supervillains—Doctor Nikola, Professor Moriarity, Fantomas, and perhaps the most diabolical of all, Doctor Fu Manchu. A variation on these evil geniuses was the Mad Scientist. And no fictional scientist was madder than the man who called himself Doctor Death.

The creation of a newspaperman and pulp writer named Harold Ward writing under the obscure pen name of Zorro, Doctor Death was the star of his own bizarre pulp magazine back in 1935. He was equal parts Doctor Frankenstein and Albert Einstein, with a dash of Fu Manchu and a dram of wormwood. In reality, a Yale psychologist with the improbable name of Rance Mandarin, Doctor Death was a scientist who wandered over to the dark side, consorting with demons, elementals, zombies, disinterred mummies, other unclean denizens of Hell.

His supreme goal in life was to crush civilization. Apparently, Mandarin practiced a strange brand of necromancy because he believed that the Almighty had commanded him to force modern man to abandon automation, quit the factories, cease inventing, and revert to a pre-industrial state. In the depths of the great Depression of the 1930s, this may have struck the American reading public as the height of horror.

A frightened nation responded to this challenge by organizing the Secret Twelve, a band of the top U. S. civil and business leaders, whose number included the President of the United States and the nation's top gang leader! It was quite a group. The heroic head of that organization was the remarkable Jimmy Holm, a millionaire criminologist and occultist who joined New York's Finest as a detective. Working under Inspector John Ricks, and sometimes allied with Mandarin's mysterious assistant, the exotic Nina Fererra, Holm battled Doctor Death from Manhattan to Egypt and into the very bowels of Hell itself.

The series is one of the rare unabashedly supernatural series the pulps ever produced. When Jimmy Holm confronts the undead minions of Doctor Death, the mummies and zombies are the real deal. The explanation for that is very simple: Harold Ward was a frequent contributor to the legendary Weird Tales magazine…and that's why Doctor Death is a classic of its type.

RadioArchives.com is resurrecting this wild and wonderful series by presenting Doctor Death's first fatal foray into reversing mankind's fortunes, 12 Must Die, in a audiobook voiced by the talented Joey D'Auria. Get yours today for $14.98 for Audio CDs and $9.98 for the Digital Download!

Radio Archives is the only place to find fast paced, high octane audio adventures of Pulp's Greatest Heroes! Fans are flocking toRadioArchives.com to tune into to Audiobook tales of Doc Savage, The Spider, and more!

For over eighty years, the name Doc Savage has meant thrills and excitement to millions of readers worldwide. Now, the Man of Bronze comes to vivid life in a series of Audiobook adventures from Radio Archives!

In "Python Isle", Doc Savage and his iron comrades race to untangle a weird puzzle so deep that the only clues can be found in the Bible!

Written by Will Murray and produced and directed by Roger Rittner,"Python Isle" features dramatic narration by Michael McConnohie, cover art by Joe DeVito, and more!

A new supercriminal emerges in "White Eyes", the second Doc Savage audiobook from Radio Archives! From his skyscraper headquarters high above the streets of New York City to the sugarcane fields of Cuba, Doc Savage races to crush gangland's latest uncrowned king!

Also written by Murray and produced and directed by Rittner, "White Eyes" features dramatic narration by Richard Epcar, cover art by Joe DeVito, plus fantastic extras!

Other characters also fight their way through evil and injustice making their way to Audibooks! In Will Murray's Pulp Classics, classic heroes like The Spider and The Black Bat lead off the charge by appearing in the first audiobooks of this new line! These and other great creations have meant thrills and excitement to millions of readers worldwide. Now, these timeless heroes are brought to vivid life in a new series of audiobook adventures from RadioArchives.com and feature the talents of some of the most well-respected readers in the audiobook industry.

Like your action classic, full of hard-boiled heroes, dames, and scientists and their mad monsters? Do you prefer new adventures and exploits of masked men and women, bad guys and gals, and weather machines, six shooters, and death rays? Or do you like both and so much more! Then welcome to The Pulp Book Store! From classic Pulp reprints to New Pulp tales by modern writers, you can find the top publishers today right here in The Pulp Book Store!

With the advent of Pulp Publishers of all varieties in the last several years, some within the Pulp field have called this current trend a 'Pulp Renaissance' or at the very least a 'Resurgence.' This is due in part to fans of Pulp who also happen to be writers, creators, designers, and much more taking hold of their interest in this often overlooked art form and producing quality work. One of the leaders in this, providing the reading public with top of the line reprints as well as professionally designed collections and comprehensive Pulp academic works, is Altus Press.

"Altus Press," according to its owner and publisher Matt Moring, "is a small-press publisher, primarily of pulp-related material. We typically focus on material published between 1920-55, though we do publish new material written in the pulp tradition featuring classic characters; Lost Race stories from the1880s-1920s; and pulp history books." One of the most notable aspects of Altus Press' current lineup is that the company is the Publisher of The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage as written by Author Will Murray. This line of new Doc Savage novels is the only new work licensed and sanctioned by the owners of the character, meaning Altus is currently the sole publisher of new Doc Savage material.

Five years ago, Moring took both his longtime love of Pulps and improvements in modern technology and, putting them together, began Altus. Circa 2005, print on demand technology--as well as several solid distribution methods--became available in an affordable way," explained Moring. "As a designer who had worked in publishing for several years, I jumped at the opportunity to present forgotten material back into print. There's a wealth of material out there that deserves to be presented in a fresh, polished, modern way."

"I know, Matt continued, "how difficult it is for interested readers to track much of this material down. Our mission is to present complete series, uncut and in as an affordable package as possible. We've over 100 titles either available or nearly complete, with many more on the way."

Moring also feels that Altus answers the needs of a growing fan base for Pulp, readers finding something in these classic stories that appeal to modern sensibilities. Moring stated, " My feeling is there is so much of current popular culture that is based upon the foundations of the pulps: the characters, plots, pacing, etc. And due to advances in cheap reading (print on demand publishing and the popularity of tablets), there seems to be an upswing in interest in these old stories. Just because they're decades old doesn't mean they're not solidly-written, entertaining tales."

Most of all, Matt Moring takes his work and the overall mission of Altus Press very seriously, to produce the best quality possible. "There are some nice-looking pulp reprints out there, but we really strive to make the best product for your buck. This may mean getting new introductions written, historical notes, restoring cut passages from the copy, restoring the artwork, and the like. And we're constantly revisiting our older titles: polishing up things as typos become apparent, tightening book layouts, etc. We're appreciative of our customers and we put our best effort into each title."

Even though he is Publisher at Altus, Matt is also, probably first and foremost a fan. And like most fans who end up in the business producing what they love, he has his favorites from the Altus catalogue. "In the pulp history category, I'd say The Phantom Detective Companion, as the overall package turned out to be such a solid overview of the character. For new material, I'd say Doc Savage: The Desert Demons turned out very well. As for classic pulp material--and this is a tough one--I'd say When the Death-Bat Flies: The Detective Stories of Norvell Page would probably be tops. It's 800 pages long, contains 33 complete stories, and clocks in at nearly half a million words. You can't go wrong with it if you're a fan of detective stories or The Spider."

Altus Press, a leader in Pulp Fiction Reprints and History and pioneer of the Pulp Renaissance, offers its massive, top quality books in The Pulp Book Store! Come see what you've been missing!

Striving to bring you the most and best Pulp available today, the Pulp Book Store is glad to announce the addition of new product and new stores to its lineup!

Known for excellent reproductions and great attention to detail, Girasol Collectables has added over 300 Pulp Replicas to their storefront! These fantastic books are authentic replicas of original pulp magazines, just as they appeared on newsstands when they were first issued. These editions are exact replicas of the original magazines, designed to give the reader an authentic taste of what a typical pulp was like when it was first issued. Thrill to authentically presented adventures of characters like The Spider and Operator 5 and read classic Pulp titles like Black Mask and Weird Tales! Exquisitely reproduced, these new replicas, more than 300 of them, are available now from Girasol Collectables and the Pulp Book Store!

The Pulp Book Store would also like to welcome three new publishers and their Pulp products to its ranks as well!

THE MURDER MASTER was originally published in the February 15, 1938 issue of The Shadow Magazine. He broadcast over a little-known radio station in New York. But he broadcast for an elite audience, among which was New York Police Commissioner Ralph Weston. His message was simple. Men would die during his broadcast. He knew the names, the times, the places and the methods. He was... the Murder Master!

As it happens, The Shadow had also been listening to the broadcast of The Murder Master. And while the broadcast was in progress, The Shadow had headed for the obscure radio station, WQJ. And so it was that The Shadow entered the broadcast building not knowing that his own name had been just uttered by the sinister Murder Master.

So far, this story has been a fast paced whirlwind of action and excitement, and we aren't even past chapter four, yet. And it gets even better. This 1938 story is a slam-bang pulp adventure that will keep you turning the pages long into the night. Most of the story involves The Shadow in his usual cloaked guise of black. He makes a few other appearances as Kent Allard, his true identity. That was all explained in the pulps just six months earlier in "The Shadow Unmasks." There's no mention of Lamont Cranston. Apparently that angle was being played down at this point in time.

The Shadow receives a bit of assistance from his ever-faithful contact man Burbank, as well as underworld aides Cliff Marsland and Hawkeye. Other recurring characters are Commissioner Ralph Weston and Inspector Joe Cardona. It's a pretty streamlined cast, but there's no real need for more. Also, A few gadgets appear in this story. The Shadow's amazing rubber discs that he uses as suction cups to scale smooth walls are mentioned.. And there's a hidden recording device that The Shadow uses to record the voice of the unseen Murder Master.

For fans of old radio shows, this pulp story holds special interest. There's the visit to the radio station and the broadcast booths. And let's not forget the stacks of electrical transcriptions containing possibly an untold wealth of wonderful recordings. Author Walter Gibson had originally intended this story to be entitled "The Radio Crimes." And it was a most appropriate title, because it all begins with a strange radio broadcast over station WQJ. And it includes an interesting visit to the radio station by The Shadow. But editors at Street & Smith decided, for some unknown reason, that "The Murder Master" was a more appropriate title. I think Gibson's original instincts were more accurate.

This is another of those Shadow pulp novels that gets my hearty recommendation. As with so many of the stories from this era, it's an enjoyable romp that will thrill you and chill you. Follow The Shadow on the trail of the Murder Master. You won't regret it. Add it to your shopping cart today for $12.95 from Radio Archives!

High quality Audio, Pulp, and Classic DVDs! And at a fantastic price! That's the Radio Archives Deal of the Day! The Deal of the Day is actually several great deals at all times. No limits! Simply Great Products at Unbelievable Prices!

Look for the yellow 'Deal Of The Day' price tag on the right side of the home page and click it for a great deal every Single Day from RadioArchives.com!

Comments From Our Customers!

Curtis Cobb:

I got Desert Demons yesterday and I'm already half way through the book. It is excellent! Thank you for the very Speedy shipment, I really appreciate it. Thanks to everyone at Radio Archives.

James Davis:

Thank you for the Doc Savage audiobooks!!!

Audiobooks/eBooks@suite101 Review:

Calling All Cars Volume 1 is available as a 10 Compact Disc set or alternatively a download direct from Radio Archives. Lasting for approximately, 10 hours, the episodes have an excellent reproduction on CD Players or alternatively to listen to on your personal iPod or MP3 player.

Barney McCasland:

These audio pulps are really great, and sounds like there are some very cool ones coming up. Keep the great audio pulps coming!

Steve Sher:

Of the companies from which I have ordered radio shows, Radio Archives reproductions and mastering have been the best by far! Given how old some of the shows are, many of them sound as if they were broadcast today. Last night, after arriving home after a very long day, at 12:45AM, I sat in my car, in the garage, because I needed to finish the last chapter of Johnny Dollar on the last disc of Volume 2. So, I sat in the car for the next 15 minutes, listening intently. The garage security guard came over to check out my car. When I rolled down the window, he was distracted from his inquiry by the show. Never having heard anything like this (he's about 25), he stood and listened for the last 10 minutes, asking me for the contact information. So, you might get an order from him. Good night.

If you'd like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email toService@RadioArchives.com. We'd love to hear from you!

The products you've read about in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you'll find waiting for you atRadioArchives.com. Whether it's the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, the excitement of our new line of audiobooks, or the timeless novels of the pulp heroes, you'll find hundreds of intriguing items atRadioArchives.com.

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ALL PULP POLICY NOTICE

Concerning Editorial pieces/Columns/Reviews on ALL PULP-Opinions and Views Expressed in a Column, Review, or other non news editorial piece are clearly the views of the Individual writing the piece and do not necessarily in any way reflect the views of ALL PULP or its staff as a collective.